Monday, July 16, 2012

The Eight Hosts Jill Shalvis Blog Tour Stop #4

The Rockville 8 is participating in the official Hachette/Grand Central sponsored Jill Shalvis Summer Blog Tour today. And we couldn’t be more thrilled! We’re stop #4 on kickoff day of a tour that will travel from blog site to blog site from July 16 to July 26. For a complete listing of tour stops, see the below.

So, let’s jump right in talking about Jill’s back-to-back releases of Lucky in Love (released June 1, 2012), At Last (released June 26, 2012), and Forever and a Day (released July 31, 2012).

First off, let me say that I love anything written by Jill Shalvis. I came late to reading her books when Simply Irresistible, the first of her Lucky Harbor series books was released in October 2010. Imagine my delight when I found I had a brand-new-to-me author who’d published over three dozen other romance novels. Oh, baby! I love when that happens. And that hadn’t happened to me since I found Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Since then, I’ve found and purchased every single book Jill Shalvis has written. And I love each and every one of them. She’s a master story teller and I can always count on her to deliver a rich, sexy, poignant love story that grips me from beginning to end, no matter if she’s writing for Grand Central Forever, Harlequin Blaze, Brava, Harlequin Temptation or Berkley Sensation. I love them all!

Lucky in Love ~ After I’d finished Lucky in Love, I thought it was my favorite Lucky Harbor novel to-date. And it was. For June 1st. It didn’t get much better than Ty Garrison--hot ex-Navy SEAL who’s dropped in to Lucky Harbor to rehabilitate his leg injury (and later we find his wounded heart and soul as well)--and hometown favorite do-gooder Mallory Quinn who is a nurse and the resident nurturer of the small, quirky Washington beach town of Lucky Harbor. In this book we get the story of a wounded hero and the steadfast woman who begins to fall in love with him, despite his clear status of Mr. Wrong. It’s a beautiful love story of healing and trust that’s just hot, hot, hot.

At Last ~ Then I read At Last toward the end of June and found my next Lucky Harbor keeper. In At Last, hunky former cop turned forest ranger Matt Bowers is the Lucky Harbor resident with stronger local ties. But he’s set adrift when he begins to fall in love with Amy Michaels, a woman who is on a journey to find hope, herself, and love in Lucky Harbor by following the footsteps of her grandmother on the nearby Sierra Meadows Trail. Amy’s been on her own, and down-on-her-luck since she was sixteen. She has trust issues, huge trust issues earned by a rough life as a homeless teenager. Matt rescues this feisty heroine time and time again as she tromps through the forest to find the legacy she thinks she’s seeking. Only when she begins to help Riley, a young girl running and on her own, does Amy open her heart and her life to the healing she really desires to find. We fall in love with Matt, Amy, and Riley in this heart-warming, tense, funny story where we root for the heroine to find her heart and the love of her life.

Forever and a Day ~ Finally, I just read a review copy of Forever and a Day, due to be released on July 31. And I adored Dr. Josh Scott and Grace Brooks. Theirs is a story where a natural caregiver (Dr. Josh Scott, an ER doctor who took over the sole care of his rebellious paraplegic sister and his young son) must learn to trust and accept the care of a woman who falls in love with him. Grace Brooks is, a power-hitter in the banking industry who stops over in Lucky Harbor one stormy night and stays to fall in love with the town, its people, and a certain hot ER doctor, his hell-on-wheels sister, his son who is more likely to bark than speak, and a pug puppy who’s dubbed The Anti-Christ).

These three books were my favorite of the Lucky Harbor series of books, however, all six books in the series are winners for any reader of contemporary romance. The small-town quirkiness of Lucky Harbor and its town inhabitants is enchanting and fun. The worldbuilding and the characters' emotional journies suck in a reader and hold her rapt from cover to cover.

Visit Lucky Harbor today, where all the heroes are hot, hot, hot and all the heroines are feisty and smart.

20 comments:

With a recommendation like that, how can I go wrong? I really look forward to discovering Ms. Shalvis and I can't wait to get started on the Lucky Harbor series.

While I mainly read urban fantasy, I do love a well done contemporary small home town series. You really get to make friends with the characters and then you get to check in every so often to see how they're doing. What's not to love about that?

Candy gave me "At Last" and I've been devouring it like popcorn (my all time favorite food). What I really like about this book --besides the characters--is the way the author gets deep into the character's head and opens that little window so I, the reader, can peek in. Shalvis is a master at this.

I love too the witty, oh-so-contemporary dialogue that always strikes just the right cord.

Keely ~ Yay. Hope you enjoy them. I love series set in small towns. Of course, at heart, I'm a small-town girl.

One of the things I love about the world Shalvis builds is the quirky chorus of characters. One of my favorites is Lucielle. She's this older woman who catches every scandal and rumor with her phone/camera and posts it to the town's Facebook page. It's hilarous and oh-so fun.

I love how the small town scenario continues to love on no matter what other tastes change. When the economy was good and folks spent money like water and made life complicated that way, people longed for small town stories. And now with So many in a financial bind, people still love small town stories. They do such a great job of helping us keep in touch with what's really important--the simple basics like family and community and love.

Hooray for those stories and hooray for Jill Shalvis and the writers who write them!

Nicole ~ You are so right. I think that so many people don't even know their nextdoor neighbors that reading a small-town series gives them that sense of community we seem to have lost in our own neighborhoods today. People long for community. So whether readers are getting it in their contemporary romance or their cozy mystery, they seem to be seeking it out. Because they sure are popular right now!

Candy, you've definitely whetted my appetite for the rest of the Lucky Harbor series. Of course, I'm a huge Jill Shalvis fan anyway. My top three (so far) are Storm Watch, Instant Attraction, and Time Out. I just adore her Blaze books. And now I can't wait to read more Lucky Harbor!

You are so right, Lisa. Go, buy them now. You won't be disappointed and you are driving a lot. So woohoo. Lots of time to read. The Lucky Harbor series and the Animal Magnetism series is on audio, too. Just in case you wanted to know. Several of her Blazes are, too. Enjoy your vacay! And happy reading.

Lynne ~ I totally know what you mean. Lucky Harbor where are the heroes are alpha and hunky! LOL.

Ty Garrison was one of my all-time favorites. But, really, I love Dr. Scott, too. And I love that Ty Garrison and Matt Bowers beat the crap out of each other in the gym almost every day. Dr. Josh Scott usually looks on and walks away shaking his head at his two friends. Love this band of friends.

Hey Shellie (and Hey Jill, congrats) I don't think small town stories really took off until the economic downturn. In these tough times, people yearn for a feeling of connection and old-fashioned values. These stores are a far cry from the urban landscape of chick lit and Sex and the City. I think people are just a little jaded by that go-go lifestyle.

And I do love Jill's books, but then it's a foregone conclusion because she and I share an editor at Forever Romance. Jill's books are a lot hotter than mine, though. :)

Thanks for stopping by. I didn't realize you and Jill had so much in common.

Your books center around a small town too, Last Chance, South Carolina. It's fun to read about all the "characters" that live in a small town and being from a teeny town myself, I can attest that small towns do have characters. And small towns people tend to display idiosyncratic country ways where as big city characters are way too hip for all that.

But lest I suggest that highly dense urban areas, like Montgomery County MD where I leave, don't have country ways, take a gander at http://www.gazette.net/montgomery/ and look for "Damascus Teen Crowned South Central Dairy Princess."

I guess she couldn't really be a "dairy queen." My mom was a Watermelon Queen in her day. Sadly, I have not been crowned the queen or princess of any major food group.

I was also a little tardy in discovering Jill but I'm so glad I did! And now, like you, Candy, I have her big long backlist to look forward to. :-) She definitely has a knack for creating that community feel, but with diverse characters--and humor all the way. I envy her flair for sexy and unexpected dialogue. A lot of the comments I've seen about her work include people saying they'd love to live in Lucky Harbor. That's quite a testament to her world building talent!

I know, Kathy, right? I so want to live there at times. Then, other times, I remember what it was like growing up in a small town like that where everybody knows your business. Ha!

Shalvis is really kinda amazing in her worldbuilding, too, because she only delves out what she has to about the world. She hasn't written herself into a corner. She has so many possibilities open yet.

And she keeps bringing new characters into the community who may or may not have ties from the past. I love it! The town that keeps on giving. ;0)

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